Building theatre patronage : management and merchandising (1927)

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CHAPTER II THE MOTION PICTURE THEATRE THE motion picture theatre has a romantic history. In the short period of about twenty years it has had a development which is unrivalled in the history of American business. A review of that development should inspire every one associated with the motion picture theatre. Its beginning is now shrouded in uncertainty because the witnesses did not consider the beginning significant enough to record. Then followed a period when its mushroom growth was so rapid and so widespread that even careful recording could not keep pace with it. Recently the development has become so varied that in the scope of this brief outline it can only be indicated. Even the most optimistic forecast of future development would seem inadequate. Early History. However, uncertain as is its early history, we know that our modern motion picture theatre had a humble forerunner. Remember the penny arcades where you dropped a penny in the slot and applied your eye to a peep hole to watch a strip of pictures move for twenty or thirty seconds? At that time scientists were experimenting with projecting a picture on the screen. Prior to 1 899, there were less than one hundred projection machines in the country, and the motion picture was used in vaudeville theatres as a novelty whose entertainment value was the simple fact that pictures actually moved. About 1902 an empty store next to a penny arcade was rented and furnished with screen, chairs, a projection machine and a few hand-painted signs. Where the very first of these "motion picture theatres** was established is not certain. Some said New York, others gave the glory to Chicago, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, or Norfolk, Va. Before the disagreement could be settled a nation-wide development was in full stride.